Day 3

We started Day 3 at Devil’s Den State park in Northwest Arkansas. We’d gotten in a little later than expected the day before, so we didn’t have time to explore the caves, but we had a nice little campsite in the woods, so it was still an enjoyable stop.

Okay, we were also eaten alive by bugs. Thanks for that, Arkansas. But besides that it was a nice stop.

The park itself is down a switch-back-y mountain road, tucked away deep in the Ozarks. It’s a spot from my childhood that feels familiar and relaxing. The views are beautiful, and there’s so much land with expanses of grass stretching out underneath the trees that it kind of makes you want to get out of the car and run through the country landscape.

Cheesy? Uh, maybe. Also true? Yes.

On a road trip like this I usually find I’m in a hurry on Day 1. And on Day 2. By Day 3 I’ve started to remember to intentionally see the land we are driving by, to soak in the details that I might have viewed dozens of times but have never really noticed.

This time, I want to notice.

Oklahoma was as beautiful as I remembered it from last time (this was after about a decade of believing I hated Oklahoma, from our trip to Alaska in 2000). It smelled warm and grassy, with just a hint of something...spicy? Some kind of western smell. Maybe it’s a plant?

Once again we took back roads in Oklahoma, and those took us through Barnsdal and Pawhuska. In Pawhuska I unashamedly shrieked when I saw the building that the Pioneer Woman is renovating with her family. I saw her building. Okay, that sounds stalker-ish. We were bummed not to have passed her ranch this time, but I was okay with it. Really. It was fun enough to acciently drive by last time.

The clouds started to darken to a serious navy/grey just out of Pawhuska and I could tell if there was rain the distance, or three EF-5 tornados waiting to toss our truck around in the air. I’d already started formulating my tornado plan and was watching for flying cows (you’ve seen Twister right?), when I finally decided to stop fearing for my life (haha, mostly kidding…) and take some pictures through the windows instead.

I was in the middle of my picture thinking “You know, the Pioneer Woman takes pictures of clouds over her ranch like this sometimes…” when John yelled “Drummond Ranch!” Yep, we passed it again! And again it was when I was taking pictures that reminded me of hers…I can’t decide if that’s coincidence, or if their ranch is like Narnia and it finds you…?

Then we got to Kansas. Ah, Kansas.

Kansas.

So…Kansas.

It’s hard to find much to say about Kansas, although I will say that this trip it grew on me a little. I enjoyed the tufty green trees growing in the praire. They’re short, rough looking, and scrubby. I guess maybe they’re wind resistant?

We stopped for the night at the Cottonwood Grove RV Park, which reminded John and I of a horror movie set last time. It was nice enough, it’s just that last time we saw no signs that anyone else was there. Yeah, there were campers. There were cars. But no one ever got out. Pretty sure we heard Twilight Zone music. This time we learned that a lot of the people staying there are working on the oil fields in Kansas and have traveled from far away, so they’re basically living temporarily in their fifth wheels. That explains the lack of activity at the RV park.

While the bathrooms there were kind of traumatizing (SPIDERS. There. Were. SPIDERS. At least I didn’t see a brown recluse like John did…), it was still nice to sit outside like last time and watch the cotton woods blow through the air like some kind of Kansas summer snow. It smells warm in Kansas too. Warm, soft, and familiar. I can’t believe how much Kansas is starting to grow on me…